Nighthawks

Nighthawks (1978)

In 70s Great Britain, a gay teacher is forced to hide his sexuality by day while living his secret life by night.

Date of release
1978-11-01
TMDB
5.5 / 10 (28)
Runtime
1h 53m
Genres
Drama
Director
Ron Peck

Casting

Interesting facts

Nighthawks is a 1978 narrative film written by Ron Peck and Paul Hallam and directed by Peck, in his feature film directorial debut. The film stars Ken Robertson, Tony Westrope and Rachel Nicholas James.

Background and production

When Ron Peck was attending London Film School, he formed Four Corners Films with Mary Pat Leece, Joanna Davis, and Wilfried Thust. The Four Corners collective went on to become the production company behind the film, with all four members playing key roles in the creation of the movie.

Peck's filmmaking was heavily influenced by American film director Nicholas Ray. While studying as an undergraduate in Swansea, he attended a Ray season at the National Film Theatre, where he had the opportunity to meet and have an intimate conversation with the auteur director. After graduating from London Film School, he began to work on the Nighthawks project, and it was Ray's work that served as an inspiration for the film.

The title Peck eventually settled on was Nighthawks, a reference to Edward Hopper's 1942 painting of the same name. Peck said the feeling you get from Hopper's painting is very similar to the world depicted by Ray, a realm of "essentially lonely people, trying to come together, maybe succeeding for a while." He went on to say that for him, the painting recalls Ray's 1950 film, In a Lonely Place, "the acceptance there of relationships that may not…

Peck started his search for funding for the film in November 1975, when he sent a proposal to the British Film Institute (BFI) production board. The BFI denied funding for Peck's project, as they were limited to financing one low–budget film a year, which ended up being the 1977 film Riddles of the Sphinx. Peck eventually turned to getting private donors and the German public-service television broadcaster ZDF to help finance the film.

In January 1976, Peck placed an advertisement in Gay News, in a bid to attract assistance in making the film. As a result of the advert, Paul Hallam, Frank Dilbert, Clive Peters and Stuart Turton were all brought on board to help with the project, with the latter three appearing in the movie as dates of Jim.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended